Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany

Volume 11 | Issue 4 Article 9

1987 A New Species of () from Western South America and a New Combination in the Genus Gerald A. Wheeler The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

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Recommended Citation Wheeler, Gerald A. (1987) "A New Species of Carex (Cyperaceae) from Western South America and a New Combination in the Genus," Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany: Vol. 11: Iss. 4, Article 9. Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/aliso/vol11/iss4/9 ALISO 11(4), 1987, pp. 533-537 A NEW SPECIES OF CAREX (CYPERACEAE) FROM WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA AND A NEW COMBINATION IN THE GENUS

GERALD A. WHEELER Department of Botany, University of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

ABSTRAcr A new species of Carex (Cyperaceae) is described from western South America. Carex pleioneura (sect. Foetidae) occurs in central Chile and west-central Argentina, where it grows on rocky slopes, among rocks bordering streams, and in mountain meadows (vegas). A new combination in South American Carex. C. longii var. meridionalis (sect. Ovales), is also made here. Key words: Carex pleioneura. new species, C. longii var. meridionalis. new combination, South America.

INTRODUCTION Slightly over 90 species and some 30-40 infraspecific taxa of Carex L. (Cyp­ eraceae) are known from the southern half of South America (Wheeler, in press). In this paper, I describe a new species of Carex from central Chile and west­ central Argentina and make a new combination.

DESCRIPTIONS AND COMMENTS Carex pleioneura Wheeler, sp. nov. Fig. 2, 3

Type.-CHILE. Provo Coquimbo: Dpto. Illapel, Hacienda Cuncumen, cajon de los Pelambres, 3000 m, suelo pantanoso, 9-13 Jan. 1932, Looser 2141 (holotype: GH!). Paratypes. -ARGENTINA. ProvoSan Juan: Dpto. Calingasta, Pachon, valle rio Pachon, 3300 m, en vega, Feb. 1982, Herb. Cat. Geobotan. 10085 (SI!).-CHILE. Provo Coquimbo: Dpto. Illapel, 10 km E of Matancilla and 15 km NE of Sanchez Mine, cerro Curamahuida, 2800 m, steep dry slopes, 23 Nov. 1938, Worth & M orrison 16681 (DS! , MO!, NA! , VC! [2 sheets».-Prov. Aconcagua: Dpto. Petorca, ca. 18 km E of La Lagua and SE of Patagua Mine, cerro Chache, 1900 m, rocky areas along stream, 30 Dec. 1938, Morrison 17038 (DS!, MO!, NA! , S! , VC! [2 sheets». Rhizoma repens elongatum; culmi 1.8-6.8 dm alti, teretes, sursum subscabri; vaginae basales glabrae, brunneae. Folia 3-5; laminae 6-39 cm longae, 2.5-5 mm latae, supra planae; vaginae giabrae, antice hyalinae; ligulae 2-4 mm longae, latiores quam longiores. Inftorescentiae 9.5-16 mm longae, 9-12 mm latae, in capitulum ovatum, oblongo-ovatum vel subglobosum dense congestae; spicae plures androgynae. Perigynia 2.8-3.6 mm longa, 0.8-\.3 mm lata, glabra, venis 12-24 prominetibus percursis; rostra 0.8-\.3 mm longa, marginibus laevia vel sparsissime scabrella, apice bidentata, dentibus de­ bilibus 0.1-0.3 mm longis. Achenia \.5-\'7 mm longa, 0.8-1.1 mm lata. Stigmata 2. Antherae 3, \.9- 2.5 mm longae. Rhizomes long-creeping, stout (about 4 mm thick), dark brown; roots pale brown, filiform; fertile culms 1.8-6.8 dm tall, arising singly or in small clumps at intervals, generally exceeding the leaves, obscurely trigonous or more often terete proximally but triangular distally, smooth except usually roughened beneath the inflorescence, 1.5-3 mm thick, stiff, with glabrous, brown basal sheaths. Leaves 534 ALISO

3-5; blades 6-39 cm long, 2.5-4.5(-5) mm wide, flat (at least distally), glabrous, the margins smooth proximally and more or less scaberulent distally; leaf sheaths glabrous, pale brown; inner band of sheaths glabrous, hyaline, the apex rounded and prolonged; ligules 2-4 mm long, rounded, wider than long, the free portion pale brown. Vegetative shoots 29-47 cm tall; leaves 5-11 , similar to those of fertile culms; pseudoculms 6.5-12 cm tall. Inflorescences 9.5-16 mm long, 9-12 mm wide, the many to numerous spikes densely aggregated into an oblong-ovoid or ovoid or subglobose head; spikes androgynous, mostly undistinguishable, the apical staminate flowers very inconspicuous (except the anthers), perigynia several per spike; bracts absent or the lowest up to 25 mm long; pistillate scales shorter than to slightly longer than the perigynia (when mature), 2.5-4 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, acute to cuspidate, glabrous, light brown, with hyaline margins and stramineous center, I-veined. Perigynia 2.8-3.6 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate, glabrous, membranaceous, stramineous or light brown, prominently 7-l4-veined dorsally and 4-10-veined ventrally, plano­ convex to nearly biconvex in cross section, the margins smooth, tapered at base into a conspicuous stipe 0.1-0.4 mm long, tapered distally into a distinct beak; beaks 0.8-1.3 mm long, margins smooth or sparingly scaberulent, the apex obliquely cleft dorsally, bidentulate, the teeth weak, scarious, 0.1-0.3 mm long. Achenes 1.5-1.7 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, lenticular, with oblong-elliptical to obovate sides, subsessile, apiculate, pale brown. Stigmas 2. Anthers 3, 1.9-2.5 mm long, including an apiculate tip 0.1-0.2 mm long. Carex pleioneura is known from Aconcagua and Coquimbo provinces in Chile and from San Juan Province in Argentina (Fig. 1). It flowers in October and early November and fruits from late November through February. This species, which is strongly rhizomatous, occurs at elevations from about 1900 to 3300 m and grows on rocky slopes, among rocks bordering streams, and in mountain meadows (vegas). The epithet pleioneura, "many-nerved," refers to the prominent veins (11 to 24 total) traversing both faces of the perigynium (Fig. 3). Carex pleioneura, with its long-creeping rhizomes, androgynous spikes densely aggregated into an ovoid to subglobose head (Fig. 2), and membranaceous perigynia that are stipitate, clearly belongs in Carex sect. Foetidae (L. Bailey) Kiik. This species most closely resembles C. nebularum Philippi (Fig. 4), which also occurs in western South America (Kiikenthal 1909; Barros 1947; Marticorena and Quezada 1985), but differs from it by having smaller perigynia that are strongly veined on both faces (compare Fig. 3 and 4), a smooth beak (or nearly so), and terete culms (at least proximally). It differs from C. kurtziana Kiik. [ == c. nebularum var. kurtziana (Kiik.) Kiik.] (Fig. 5), which grows in west-central Argentina and Patagonia (Kii­ kenthal 1909; Barros 1947; Marticorena and Quezada 1985), by having smaller achenes, terete culms, and smaller perigynia that are ovate to lanceolate and strongly veined on both faces (compare Fig. 3 and 5). Carex pleioneura also resembles C. ecuadorica Kiik., which occurs in Ecuador and Peru (Kiikenthal 1909; Macbride 1936), but differs from it by having perigynia strongly veined ventrally as well as dorsally, light brown pistillate scales without a green keel, and terete culms reaching 68 cm in height. In general, C. pleioneura occurs farther north on the South American continent than C. nebularum and C. kurtziana and farther south than C. ecuadorica. VOLUME 11 , NUMBER 4 535

00'0

. 3"- o 300 '--r-' 0 , 60' I -' / , '.. --'"

...

.. C. pleioneura

• C. longii var. meridionalis

500. ·f~ OM 00'

Fig. 1. Map of southern South America showing the distributions of Carex pleioneura and C. longii var. meridionalis. 536 ALISO

Fig. 2-5.-2-3. Carex pleioneura, from Looser 2141 (GH), holotype.-2. Inflorescence.-3. Peri­ gynium: dorsal view (sinistral); ventral view (dextral).-4. Carex nebularum, from R. Philippi s.n., Jan. 1877 (SGO-46093), syntype. Perigynium: dorsal view (sinistral); ventral view (dextral). - 5. Carex kurtziana, from Boelcke 12675 (BAA). Perigynium: dorsal view (sinistral); ventral view (dextral). (Fig. 2, bar = I cm; Fig. 3-5, bars = I mm.)

CAREX LONGII Mackenzie var. meridionalis (Kiik.) Wheeler, comb. nov. =Carex albolutescens Schwein. var. meridionalis Kiik., Verh. bot. Ver. Brandenburg 47:208. 1905 (basionym).-TYPE: BRAZIL. Rio Grande do SuI, Quinta near Rio Grande, 5 Nov. 1901 , leg. Malme, Regnellll.205 (LECTOTYPE [here designated]: S!). [Because the syntypes deposited at Bare no longer extant, the lectotype was chosen from among existing syntypes examined and annotated by Georg Kiikenthal.] =Carex meridionalis (Kiik.) Herter, Revista Sudamer. Bot. 9: 162. 1953. Most authors (e.g., Kiikenthal 1909; Osten 1931; Barros 1947, 1960; Pedersen 1968) treat the only member of Carex sect. Ovales occurring in east-central South America as Carex albolutescens var. meridionalis. However, the species that this VOLUME II, NUMBER 4 537 variety is actually referable to is C. longii (Mackenzie 1931). As indicated above, when treated at specific rank the name of this becomes C. meridionalis. While Carex longii var. meridionalis occurs in southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina (Fig. 1), var. longii is reported from southeastern North America and Bermuda (Mackenzie 1931; Fernald 1950), Mexico and Central America (Hermann 1974), and from Colombia in northern South America (Pinto­ Escobar and Mora-Osejo 1966). The southern variety flowers in October and November and fruits from December through June. It differs from var. longii by having perigynia that reach 5.3 mm long (averaging 4.9 mm) and 3.2 mm wide (averaging 2.5 mm) and achenes that reach 1.8 mm long and 1 mm wide; by contrast, in var. longii the perigynia seldom reach 4.6 mm long and 2.6 mm wide and the achenes are mostly less than 1.6 mm long and 0.8 mm wide. Besides being slightly larger, the perigynia of var. meridionalis have winged margins that are comparatively more jagged or coarsely toothed than those of var. longii (es­ pecially above the middle).

Representative specimens.-ARGENTINA. Provo Entre Rios: Burkart 30737 (US); Crovelto 5099 (BAB); Parodi 9528 (SI).-BRAZIL. Parana: Dusen 8926 (S), 9422 (GH, MO), 13372 (S, US), and 15759 (GH, MO, S); Reitz & Klein 17771 (UC, US); Hatschbach 14950 (L) and 33462 (C).-Rio Grande do Sui: Jurgens s.n., s.d., Rio Pardo (B); Rambo 34815 (S), 45013 (B), 51567 (S), 54686 (B), 56316 (B), 57319 (B), 61516 (S), and 62730 (B); Regnell II. 376 (syntype: S) and 621 (syntype: S); Sacco 431 (F, UC) and 1383 (F); Smith & Reitz 5906 (US).-Santa Catarina: Reitz 2891 (S, US) and 3411 (LIL, S); Reitz & Klein 14008 (US); Smith et al. 7642 (L), Smith & Reitz 8686 (US), Smith & Klein 13004 (MO, S, WIS), 13574 (GH, UC), and 13688 (US).-URUGUAY. Dpto. Lavalleja: Pe­ dersen 3591 (C).-Dpto. Rivera: Herter 1667 (F, GH, MO, S, US).-Dpto. Soriano: Hb. Arechavaleta s.n., 1899 (S).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank the curators and directors of the following herbaria for the loan of specimens: B, BAA, BAB, C, DS, F, GH, L, LIL, MO, NA, S, SGO, SI, UC, US, and WIS.

LITERATURE CITED

Barros, M. 1947. Cyperaceae: Scirpoideae, Rhynchosporoideae, Caricoideae, p. 259-539. In H. R. Descole [ed.], Genera et species plantarum Argentinarum. Tomus IV (II), Fundacion e Instituto Miguel Lillo, Tucuman. --. 1960. Las Cipenlceae del estado de Santa Catalina. Sellowia 12: 181-450. Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th ed. American Book Co., New York. Hermann, F. J. 1974. Manual of the genus Carex in Mexico and Central America. Agr. Handbook 467, Forest Service, USDA. Washington, D.C. Kiikenthal, G. 1909. Cyperaceae: Caricoideae, pp. 1-824. In A. Engler [ed.], Das pflanzenreich, IV. 20, Heft 38. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann. Macbride, J. F. 1936. Carex in flora of Peru. Fieldiana: Botany 13:314-320. Mackenzie, K. K. 1931. Cyperaceae, tribe I, Cariceae. N . Amer. Flora 18:1-168. Marticorena, C, and M. Quezada. 1985. Catalago de la flora vascular de Chile. Gayana 42(1-2): 1- 157. Osten, C 1931. Las ciperaceas del Uruguay. Anales Mus. Hist. Nat. Montevideo (ser. II) 3: 109- 256. Pedersen, T. M. 1968. Carex, pp. 318-338. In A. Cabrera [ed.], Flora de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Colec. Cient. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires. Pinto-Escobar, P., and L. E. Mora-Osejo. 1966. Catalogo ilustrado de las plantas de Cundinamarca. Vol. I. Inst. Cien. Nat., Universidad Nacional. Bogota. Wheeler, G. A. In press. The of Carex sect. Abditispicae sect. nov. (Cyperaceae) from austral South America. Syst. Bot.